With less than two weeks left in the regular season, conference basketball games are becoming increasingly important. And this week’s schedule has a host of games that will go a long way toward determining top seeds for the conference and state tournaments.

One team that has been on fire is the Camden boys team, which has won six Four Rivers games in a row after starting 1-2 in league play.

The Bruins still trail league-leading Plymouth by two games in the loss column heading into Tuesday’s games. But Camden has a unique opportunity with two games against the Vikings this week, tonight at home and at Plymouth on Friday.

“Ultimately you want to win a conference championship,” Harnly said. “It’s that time of year to get hot and it’s time to start playing better and I think we have. The young guys are starting to grow up and be better leaders and we’re starting to finish games a little bit better. Plymouth is very good. They’re very deep and not just with athletes, they’re basketball players.”

Tonight’s game was originally scheduled for Jan. 10, but was moved because that date conflicted with Plymouth’s exams. Having discovered that after the

season had begun left few options for a new date, leaving the Bruins with a packed schedule to close the regular season.

“It‘s not ideal to have five games in basically 10 days, but come playoff time you play a lot, so maybe this will help us get ready,” Harnly said.

Taking two early conference losses left Camden with little margin for error, but the Bruins have battled back. Harnly is looking forward to the challenge, though he was not overlooking Tuesday’s foe South Creek. He also pointed out that Plymouth faced a tough Riverside club on Tuesday as well.

“We dug ourselves a little hole, which really hurt,” Harnly said. “We’re playing much better lately, but we have to get the South Creek game for tonight and Friday to matter. A lot will shake out the next two or three days.”

The Four Rivers boys race is not the only one coming down to the wire. In the Northeastern Coastal Conference, both the boys’ and girls’ standings are tight at the top.

On the girls’ side, what once looked like a Northeastern runaway is suddenly Pasquotank’s championship to lose. The Lady Eagles have dropped two in a row, to Bertie and Hertford, and are now a ½-game behind the Lady Panthers going into Tuesday’s games.

Hertford is tied with the Lady Eagles for second place, but Northeastern and Pasquotank close out the regular season on Feb. 10 with a showdown at Elizabeth City State’s R.L. Vaughan Center and it seems that the top spot, at least in the 2A portion of the league, will come down to that game.

In the boys’ race, Pasquotank goes into Tuesday’s games a game behind Hertford in the loss column with the two facing off in Elizabeth City on Friday. Pasquotank is still in control of the top 2A seed with a three-game cushion with four to play, including Tuesday’s game against First Flight.